Soldier Game
by Deeeeeev
Summary: Her unknown intentions got you wanting to play more of her game. UmiMaki oneshot.


**A/N:** **Here's a few things to tell y'all.**

 **So I was going to change this to EliUmi, but I wrote this a long time ago as UmiMaki, and I guess it fits better for me imo? lol. To me, this pair is so random, but I guess I kind of like it.**

 **I barely write fanfics unlike before, so this might be a little bleh. Also, I'm not used to writing in present tense, but I just gave it a shot. Feel free to drop in a review to help me improve, and I'm sorry if you see any mistakes!**

 **This oneshot is short - maybe a bit too short for my liking, but I'm exhausted to edit this and I know that I'll be lazy to do so if I try to post this on another day. This might seem rushed or not make any sense.. LOL Sorry for being so nooby.**

 **Anyways, enjoy. :^))))))**

* * *

You walk down the empty hallway towards the club room. The other day, Maki informed _u's_ to meet there an hour after the school bell rang for whatever reason. You decided to go practice some archery to kill some time but after being too caught up into your focus, you're ten minutes late. This causes you to walk faster because you know you will be the last one to arrive, which is highly unlikely of you. You finally reach the clubroom's door after fourteen minutes. You curse under your breath for being this late before immediately opening the door and blurting whatever was on your mind.

"I'm so sorry, I got caught up in-"

You then stop speaking as you notice that there is one person in the room. Her back faces you and she stands before the window, sitting on the desk. The sun shines on her red hair as she turns around and meets her purple orbs with yours.

"Maki..?"

She smiles. "Hey, Umi."

You take another few minutes to process what was happening before closing the door and setting your book bag on the desk. You stare at her as she hops back onto the floor and approaches you, with the smile still stuck on her lips. You can't help but smile back and add a little blush. You open your mouth to speak, but she beats you to it, grabbing your hand and softly tugs you.

"Let's sit down?"

You nod dumbly as your mind is distracted by her delicate hands. They're soft and warm just like you expected them to be, and you can feel the little strength in the grasp she has. You unconsciously tighten the hold.

Maki leads you to the chair on the end of the row and pulls it out for you, releasing your hand. Your blush darkens as you quietly thank her and take a seat. She trails over and pulls out the chair on your right and sits on the desk, with her feet propped on the chair. You glance over at her.

"Where are the others?" You finally ask. She rests her head on both of her hands with her elbows propping on her knees and shrugs. She still has that grin on.

You slightly raise your eyebrows. You realize that she has been smiling the entire time you arrived, and it wasn't like her. It's Maki: She'd be either quiet, bored, tired or just complaining. At the moment, she looks like a miracle just happened, like she had just been confessed to by her crush. Your eyes widen. Though it's an assumption, can it really be because of that? Maki is just smiling, so it can be anything. But this isn't like her, as you thought. At all.

Maki and her boyfriend... You imagine him being taller, with raven black hair with bangs swept to the side of his forehead, blue eyes and muscular, and really rich. You don't know why, but if the taller girl ever had one, he'd look like that. It slowly starts to make sense: Maki is like a rich, beautiful princess and he'd be the prince.

Your stomach churns. You start overthinking. Is she going to leave u's because of him? If they ever date, will you and her ever speak again? Is she happier with him than with us? Quite the over-the-top questions that may have logical answers - which are most likely no - but you can't help but ask yourself those. You and Maki aren't very close compared Honoka and yourself, but losing her to someone else sickens you.

"Umi?"

Snapping out of your thoughts, you turn over to Maki, whose expression is full of concern and with her smile gone. You get a feeling inside indicating that you already miss it.

"Y-Yes?" You stumble upon your word awkwardly. You didn't mean to make her worry in any way. The pianist hops back onto the floor and approaches you.

"Are you okay? You look sick, or maybe sad. Want to talk about it?"

You shake your head and smile nervously. "N-No, it's nothing." Your mind laughs at you as it labels you a horrible liar. You look away from her as you pray to yourself that thinking upsetting things about her wasn't so obvious. It's such a random and unnecessary thought and you know yourself that it's ridiculous. You try to avoid eye contact before feeling something soft that pulled the bottom of your jaw to face ahead of you. You turn to Maki, who is staring deeply into your eyes.

"Please?"

You take a moment to find your way out of the hypnotizing gaze the redhead has set on and smile nervously.

"..I'm okay."

Hiding emotions are one thing you're not good at. Your facial expression and reactions betray you so easily that others can easily see you. You bet yourself Maki knows you're lying. She knows you're sad, but she doesn't know it's about her. You don't feel thankful for that because, for some reason, you want her to know. You move your head away from her hand, which she drops from the movement, as an attempt to hide your face. It doesn't work.

You feel a light weight on your lap and shoulders, flinching by surprise. You face to the front to see Maki sitting on top of you with her arms snaking around your neck. She pulls herself closer to you until her forehead rests against yours.

"Don't lie to me," she whispers. You feel your heart stop and rip your gaze away from her, losing confidence and courage to continue to stare at her. You can't understand why she made such a bold move or why you felt so flustered, but you resist the urge to immediately push her off by fear.

 _"What is she trying to do?"_ You expect those words to be spoken, but nothing escaped your mouth. Your eyes trail down to see her lips an inch away from yours. Her soft breaths escaped her lips and brush against yours, sending a chill down your spine. You take in a shaky inhale, which also has taken in the sweet strawberry scent that she's wearing. Maki's fragrance helps you relax as all your muscles in your body lose tension.

"What makes you say that I'm lying?" You manage to slip out. Your body begins to feel numb, but you can still feel her warmth radiating onto you, spreading throughout from head to toe. She giggles and lifts her head off of yours, but moves herself up so your torsos are barely touching.

"You're easy to read."

You're not shocked that she knows that you're lying, but you think that it's better than keeping up with a lie. "I.. I know. But.. why are you-"

You're cut off by a finger to your lips. You gaze up to see Maki playing a smirk upon hers.

"Don't worry about it," her voice is soft and soothing. "Just know that I've always wanted to do this."

You have no clue on what she's saying, slightly opening your mouth to speak until she suddenly cups your cheek. Your eyes enlarge and hitch your breath again and see her lean closer to you. You don't know any of her motives for this situation. Your thoughts frantically begin to build up with unanswered questions, wanting to scream in embarrassment and fear. Your eyes keeps on flickering from her eyes to her lips, moving your body back as far as possible. Your heart is pounding so loudly that you're not able to hear your own thoughts, but it feels like time has stopped when you feel Maki graze your bottom lip with her thumb.

"..Can I?" She speaks ever-so gently, like her words are inaudible, but at the same time her voice sounds so loud and.. desperate, causing your mind to go blank. You gulp and faintly nod, gradually closing your eyes and let out a soft sigh. Still, you know exactly what she's about to do, but oddly enough, you don't care.

You hold your breath the moment that something's pressing against your lips. Maki places another hand on your other cheek and feel her smile against your mouth as you melt into the kiss. You're left thinking: _"Is this actually what she wanted to do? I know that we're in an idol group together, but we're not even that close... why am I fine with this?"_

The both of you stay in that position in what feels like eternity once you and her hear the door unlocking. Maki pulls away from the kiss and hops off of you and you're glad for her fast reaction timing, but at the same time, you already crave more of her warmth. You open your eyes and pinned your eyes onto the doorknob before the ground. _"Was that door always locked?"_

You hear the door opening and footsteps walk in. "Maki-chan! Umi-chan!"

"You guys are here ear- Eh? Umi-chan? Are you okay?"

Your stare is burning through the ground and you're holding the edges of your chair tightly, shaking. You refuse to look at Honoka and Kotori, since your face is probably burning a bright red.

"Ah, she's okay. I just told her a disgusting story I heard from Nico-chan today," Maki says normally. You eye her, watching her twirl her hair in total ennui. You gape at her, not understanding why she looks totally fine. She briefly looks at you and winks.

Your cheeks feels like they're set on fire before you stand up promptly, still looking at the floor. "I-I gotta go!" You stuttered, rushing yourself out of the clubroom without hearing another word from the three. The entire time, you sense her eyes onto you, causing you to purse your lips and hold your hands in a fist. You shut the door and turn to your left, looking through the classroom windows to see her peering directly at you, playfully grinning. You avert your look for the last time and let out a heavy sigh to stop your shallow breathing.

~

After that day, the two of you never spoke a word of it. You thought it was better that way, but you were left clueless to why she kissed you in the first place. You wanted answers to her intentions, but you couldn't bring yourself to talk to her. The only thing you two would do was meet eyes for a short moment before looking away, but you felt the blood rush up to your cheeks every time."Was it just a joke? Is she just using me to please herself? Will her answer hurt me if she said it?" The questions boggled your mind every single second after that scenario, until a few months later, you gave up. You've finally given up on being so sick and confused, yet instead you let her win her little game.

Thinking about this, you laid on your bed as you wondered: _"But what's the fun if I couldn't play at all?_ " A smile suddenly grew upon your lips.

One day, an hour after the school bell rang, you find yourself sitting alone in the clubroom, tapping your foot patiently for the door to open. You hum to the song _u's_ has produced for LoveLive to pass time until you hear the doorknob turn. Your eyes flicker to the door to see the person that you've been wanting to talk to for the longest time enter.

"Sorry guys I've been-"

She finally realizes that you're there, with her eyes wide and a sudden change of tension that flows through the room. You two remain to stare with no words spoken before you heave a silent sigh, standing up to show a smirk that no one has ever seen.

Now it's time to win _your_ game.


End file.
